Growing Your Martial Arts Business | Every Day A Beginner's MindMartial Arts business owners share their stories of trial and tribulation, successes and obstacles on topics ranging from adding curriculum to creative marketing strategies.https://www.maiahub.com/blog.rss
A Deep Dive Into Teaching 3 to 6-Year Olds Martial Arts<p><em>A poll was created in the Century Martial Arts School Network about teaching 3 to 6-year olds martial arts. Here are my reactions to that poll and some pointers for making your early age program better.</em></p>
<p><strong>By Melody Shuman</strong>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Something interesting happened last week.</p>
<p>Something that if you weren&rsquo;t on Facebook, could have got lost in social media&rsquo;s short lifecycle&hellip;</p>
<p>A poll was created in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CenturyMartialArtsSchoolNetwork/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Century Martial Arts School Network</a>.</p>
<p>In the poll, Danielle Rogers (who deserves all the credit for starting this conversation and to a lesser extent, giving me a spark to write this post) asked a simple question:</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/blogs/7287/images/b6ZoH8ZtRZMuPRqXjAwY_Deep_Dive_Screen_Cap.PNG" /></strong></p>
<p>The question was:</p>
<p><strong>&ldquo;Do you have a program in your school for 3-6 year olds? Tell us why or why not.&rdquo;</strong></p>
<p>Now, if you go to the poll (which you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CenturyMartialArtsSchoolNetwork/permalink/2442915332403762/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>&nbsp;if you're a member of the group) you can see gobs of people offering up their opinions on the early age class conundrum&hellip;</p>
<p>You can see people stating their cases for and against teaching this age group in their school...</p>
<p>But, it&rsquo;s fascinating to see both sides of the coin.</p>
<p>To see the responses why people choose to teach the young ones. To see the reasons why people choose not to bother with it altogether.</p>
<p>And that&rsquo;s why, in today&rsquo;s blog, I decided to take a deep dive into this poll.</p>
<p>To discuss the 6 biggest benefits behind having an early age program&hellip;</p>
<p>To explore 3 common objections for why instructors choose not to teach this young&hellip;</p>
<p>And to give you 4 solutions that will make teaching this age group so much easier.</p>
<p>My goal at the end of this is to show you how valuable this age group can be for your school and, if you are struggling with this demographic, to give you some pointers on how to have better success on the mat with these tiny tykes.</p>
<p>So with all that said, let&rsquo;s get started.</p>
<hr />
<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
<h3><strong>The 6 Biggest Benefits of Having a 3-6 Year Olds Program</strong></h3>
<p>Before we explore the reasons why some school owners choose not to have an early age program, it&rsquo;s important to list out the benefits of teaching this age group.</p>
<p>This helps you gather all the information if you&rsquo;re thinking about starting a program or revamping it if you decided to stop teaching this age group a while ago.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, there are numerous benefits for the children and the parents of children when children learn martial arts at this age, but for the sake of this post, I&rsquo;m going to stick with the business benefits.</p>
<p>So here they are:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>It opens up a huge, new market for new students</strong></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>This one is important. If you don&rsquo;t have an early age program in place, you&rsquo;re missing out on a huge market for enrolling new students. A lot of sports or other activities don&rsquo;t offer programs to children this young so having a program in place for 3 to 6-year olds really shows that you&rsquo;re invested in the little ones. You can show immense value to parents who are trying to get their children involved in a social setting at a young age. This is a big reason to start an early age program.</p>
<ol start="2">
<li>
<p><strong>It unlocks a new revenue stream for your business</strong></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Just from a financial perspective &mdash; if you have an early age program in your school, you&rsquo;re going to do much better revenue-wise than you would without it. It&rsquo;s another demographic you can serve to fuel your bottom line. Add in the fact that there aren&rsquo;t a ton of options for children this age and you would be missing out on a giant income source if you didn&rsquo;t provide it in your school.</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong>Your retention will skyrocket</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Just look at the poll, this is a fact. If you can sign kids up to your early age program and you can provide them with a memorable experience, they will stay with you longer. Parents are very involved with their children at this age so if you can give their kids a consistently good experience, teach them some basic martial arts and develop them as human beings, parents will take note and they will stay with you much longer.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s a huge benefit but that&rsquo;s not all parents will do&hellip; (see #4)</p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong>Your referrals will increase</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Parents like to talk about their kids A LOT when they are this age&hellip;and for good reason, these are the few years where parents get to see their kids grow and develop and come into their own as a person. So if you can provide their child with a fun, memorable experience, they will talk about you. The parents will talk to&nbsp;their friends, family and coworkers about the amazing experience Johnny had at his first karate class. This can pay endless dividends for you down the road.</p>
<ol start="5">
<li><strong>Younger siblings can get involved</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Many times when you have elementary-aged students training in your martial arts school, they have younger siblings in their family. This can be a great way to get more kids on floor and in to your program. It also helps retention too &mdash; as the age-old saying goes, &ldquo;families that kick together, stick together.&rdquo;</p>
<ol start="6">
<li><strong>It helps the culture of your school</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Granted this one is a little bit nebulous, but I believe a children&rsquo;s program can improve the culture in your school. There&rsquo;s something about seeing a little one start his or her journey in martial arts that just puts a smile on your face. Parents always respond joyfully to watching the kids train, even if it&rsquo;s not their child, and it&rsquo;s a good way to show your vested in teaching students from the very, very beginning to black belt and beyond.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>3 Objections For Why Some Instructors Choose Not To Teach This Age Group</strong></h3>
<p>If you look at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CenturyMartialArtsSchoolNetwork/permalink/2442915332403762/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poll</a>, the majority of instructors that responded said they do have a program in place for 3-6 year olds in their school. This is great!</p>
<p>However, I also saw some objections sprinkled in there. This is completely fair and if you choose not to have an early age program, that&rsquo;s fine. It&rsquo;s your choice.</p>
<p>However, I wanted to try and dispel a few of these objections because I&rsquo;ve heard them many times and I don&rsquo;t want anyone to miss out on all of the benefits associated with having an early age kids program.</p>
<p>So here are the 3 main objections that I saw:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>&ldquo;I Don&rsquo;t Want to Babysit&rdquo;</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>There is some truth to this but it&rsquo;s not the complete truth. Yes, you will need to practice patience if you are teaching small children. Yes, you will need to teach more basic human development with this age group. And yes, you might need to be more lenient when it comes to perfect martial arts form. But this age group is worth it (see above). It might seem like work but there are many ways to make it easier if you understand the little ones better (we&rsquo;ll discuss this more in detail later).</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><strong>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Just Not For Me. It Doesn&rsquo;t Fit My Personality.&rdquo; </strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Certain types of people have a harder time teaching children than others. That&rsquo;s just a fact. Maybe you&rsquo;re introverted, maybe you&rsquo;re shy, maybe it&rsquo;s just exhausting mentally &mdash; either way, I understand there&rsquo;s a human element to teaching small children. But there's just so many benefits to having this program.</p>
<p>Do you know someone that loves working with kids? Maybe they can help you out. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be a black belt instructor with decades of experience (I built the <a href="https://www.maiahub.com/p/preskillz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PreSKILLZ</a> program for this very reason).</p>
<p>More often than not, the best instructors for this age group are a volunteer parent or even an older, higher-level student. At this age, the majority of kids don&rsquo;t have the fine motor functions anyway. So it&rsquo;s a lot more about developing them as people rather than expert martial artists.</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong>&ldquo;The Children Just Can&rsquo;t Grasp The Techniques. They&rsquo;re too young.&rdquo;</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Just as I said in the last reason &mdash; at this age, a lot of 3 to 6-year olds are just not developed enough for the majority of martial arts techniques. I can&rsquo;t express this enough, if 80 &ndash; 90% of your class for this age group is martial arts, you are probably missing the mark. Unless you have anomalies in your class, the majority of 3 to 6-year olds are just not equipped physically and intellectually for most martial arts techniques. We will talk about this more in the next section.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>4 Solutions That Will Make Teaching Your Early Age Classes So Much Easier</strong></h3>
<p>So we&rsquo;ve highlighted the benefits. We&rsquo;ve listed out the objections. Now, how do we improve our early age programs?</p>
<p>Here are some tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Give your drills a goal.</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Children learn best through play. You learn this very quickly when teaching this age group. However, if your play doesn&rsquo;t have a specific goal or teach a lesson at the end, this is where it starts to feel like babysitting (See objection #1).</p>
<p>Except for the end of class game, your drills should look like games but have specific growth-minded goals to them like coordination or teamwork. To accomplish this, have skill-specific lessons for each class and then use your drills as the vehicle to teach those lessons.</p>
<p><strong>For example:</strong> A drill where the student is hitting a pad out of the instructor&rsquo;s hands while hitting a target is a play-based game that teaches the students how to &ldquo;focus with their eyes.&rdquo; Parents want their kids to look at them when they are talking, so use this drill as a vehicle to teach that &ldquo;focus&rdquo; lesson.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><strong>Ease up on your curriculum.</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>As much as we want our students to perform at a high standard, it is not effective to teach curriculum that is above their stage of development. Some people make the mistake of assuming all students are created equal, and if one anomaly can do it, the rest of the class can too. This will discourage both your students and parents and hurt your retention. To prevent this from happening, take the time to study the physical and intellectual stage of this age group and make sure you&rsquo;re not making things too difficult.</p>
<p><strong>For example:</strong> Most children this age cannot perform a decent push-up, but this is one of the most common exercises done in early age classes. As parents watch their child attempt a push-up with lack of proper mechanics, they get embarrassed, and this ultimately can lead to them being discouraged and pulling their child out of class. Instead of doing push-ups, use shoulder taps to help the students build the upper body muscles.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong>Build consistency into your lesson plans.</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Children need systematic variety. This means that there is structure they can expect while also having enough variety to limit boredom. Without structure they are accustom to, they lose focus on the core lesson because they cannot anticipate what happens next. At the same time, if they know what&rsquo;s coming next, then they are less distracted by the unknown and more focused on the task at hand. That&rsquo;s why consistency is so important.</p>
<p><strong>For example:</strong> Create a class planner format that is consistent.&nbsp; The structure I use goes like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>A Warm-up</li>
<li>A Mat Chat (explaining the lesson of the day and lesson for the next two drills)</li>
<li>2 Skill-based learning drills</li>
<li>3 Systematically-rotated martial arts-based drills</li>
<li>And an end-of-class fun game</li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a class plan we used for the first and second week of the <a href="https://www.maiahub.com/p/preskillz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PreSKILLZ</a>&nbsp;program.</p>
<p><a title="PreSKILLZ Month 1, Week 1 Class Planner" href="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2264894/MAIA/PreSKILLZ/PreSKILLZ_Month1_Week1_Class_Planner.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img style="width: 45%; height: auto;" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/blogs/7287/images/5CsFcSU6TLmKx2FTmZpO_PreSKILLZ_Month_1_Week_1_Class_Planner.jpg" /></a> <a title="PreSKILLZ Month 1, Week 2 Class Planner" href="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2264894/MAIA/PreSKILLZ/PreSKILLZ_Month1_Week_2_Class_Planner.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img style="width: 45%; height: auto;" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/blogs/7287/images/ucGw1WLxQIWK6xiCAi7U_PreSKILLZ_Month_1_Week_2_Class_Planner.jpg" /></a></p>
<p>You see that the content within the format rotates for variety, but the format itself doesn&rsquo;t change. This helps the students know what is coming, but keeps them excited for what&rsquo;s coming next.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong>Learn about the social and emotional needs of this age group</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Children this age are still going through adolescent brain development. The pre-frontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for rationality and decision-making, is not fully developed.</p>
<p>This means they will express more anxiety and behavioral issues than older children. This can be frustrating for both the students and instructors. To limit challenges associated with this topic, it helps to understand not just what to teach them, but also how to teach them.</p>
<p><strong>For example:</strong> Children this age tend to wiggle when they are excited. The rational part of the brain that understands why they should sit or stand still isn&rsquo;t developed, so they don&rsquo;t have the self-control to limit their excitement.</p>
<p>Instructors who understand this are less frustrated and tend to deploy positive strategies to help foster better behavior, such as a healthy competition of seeing which student can sit or stand the best versus threats such as time-out punishments.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In conclusion, this age group might seem like a simple age group to work with because they are so young, but that makes teaching them even more complex. There&rsquo;s a lot to factor in when it comes to meeting their physical, intellectual, emotional, and social needs. With that said, if you put in the time to understand their stage of development and meet them where they are, you will experience a huge success in this lucrative niche market.</p>
<hr />
<p>If you want to learn more about teaching 3 to 6-year olds, feel free to join me in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/259327647739326/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Century Martial Arts Preschool Network</a>. I&rsquo;m always answering questions in there and responding to comments.</p>
<p>If you would like a more complete training for teaching this age group, sign up for my program, <a href="https://www.maiahub.com/p/preskillz">PreSKILLZ</a>. It&rsquo;s got done-for-you class planners every week and it&rsquo;s got instructional videos to provide you and your staff with the language and techniques to generate the best results in class.</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://www.maiahub.com/p/preskillz"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/blogs/7287/images/MVjj1yVbQliDysl9Qa9a_181213-16227-secondary-maia-preskillz-end-of-the-year-sale-banner.jpg" /></a></p>Fri, 14 Dec 2018 21:12:49 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/a-deep-dive-into-teaching-3-to-6-year-olds
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/a-deep-dive-into-teaching-3-to-6-year-oldsYou Hurt His Feelings,So His Mom Sues You!<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Many of us like to help other people. We are in a teaching art. My instructor told me years ago that the best way to learn our martial art is to teach it. I&rsquo;ve been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to share what I&rsquo;ve learned in the studio with the ranks coming up behind me.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I&rsquo;ve also noticed that many of us who share our martial art with others often help people. We know the value of martial arts to change and empower people. One of the studio owners I&rsquo;ve spoken to recently is exactly that kind of person.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>He had the opportunity to bring a child into the school that was struggling with social skills. The child was struggling with home-life and academic problems, and bullying by other kids. Those types of problems usually occur together for kids.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The studio owner had a lot of heart for this child. So, the child was brought in on a scholarship and was enthusiastic about class. He made sure his mom got him to class regularly. He worked hard on being a good student. He was the kind of student that made up for talent with effort.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In this same studio was an instructor that had come up in old-school martial arts. She believed that discipline was the single most important factor in building a martial artist. She also believed that all students could do more, physically, than they thought they could do.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Whether you agree or disagree with her point of view, the truth is, we live in America in 2019. No matter where you turn &mdash; billboards, TV, social media, talking to your neighbor &mdash; you see and hear about lawyers suing businesses and getting money for their clients.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The old-school approach doesn&rsquo;t work in our studio, if we&rsquo;re in it to make a living.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For this studio, the instructor had the boy hold a stance for five minutes. The boy was shaking and crying. Mom was outraged. The instructor couldn&rsquo;t believe mom was questioning her teaching style.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Mom took the boy out of the studio. When the owner shared with mom his belief that the boy would benefit from martial arts, even if that meant going to another studio, mom was angry. She said there was no way she was going to let grown-ups bully her son. Now she had a very lopsided view of martial arts.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>No surprise when, a few months later, the school owner was served with a lawsuit. The papers stated the boy had been harmed physically and emotionally. Those are very typical accusations in these situations.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the legal battle and mediation, mom could not prove any physical harm had been done to the boy. The real point of argument was the question of emotional harm. Since that isn&rsquo;t something that&rsquo;s clear cut, like a broken arm, the defendant is at a real disadvantage. The studio is the defendant.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I have two suggestions to help you should you face a similar situation.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>First, make sure you train your team on proper teaching methods. We all have our martial arts heritage. We have been influenced by our instructors and mentors. It is natural to think that the way we were taught is the best way. Sometimes, it isn&rsquo;t the best way for 2019 America. So, our instructors need to know what methods they can and cannot use.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve decided on acceptable methods and trained the team, you also need to closely observe your instructors in action. You need to make sure they are sticking to your guidelines. It&rsquo;s your financial security on the line.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Second, make sure your insurance policy provides protection if you&rsquo;re sued over an &ldquo;emotional harm.&rdquo; Many policies only cover the emotional harm if it comes from a physical harm. Make sure you know what you have.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Beth Block can be reached at (800) 225-0863 or beth@blockins.net.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/you-hurt-his-feelings-so-his-mom-sues-you
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/you-hurt-his-feelings-so-his-mom-sues-youThe 5 Mindsets of Martial Arts School Success, Part 2<p>Last month, we discussed the first three mindsets of a successful martial arts school.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>They were:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li>We are the friendliest place in town.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="2">
<li>We are the cleanest place in town.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li>We only teach great classes, never just good ones.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This month, we&rsquo;ll address mindsets four and five.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong> We are excellent at student/parent communication</strong>. It has been great to see how the level of professionalism has improved in our industry over the last 40 years. Clearly, we have learned a lot about running a friendly, clean school with great classes.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With that said, if there&rsquo;s one area that we are still weak in as an industry, it is student/parent communication.</p>
<p>What I&rsquo;m referring to here is the importance of giving consistent, quality feedback to all of our students and their parents on their progress. We do this by sharing with them what they are doing well and how they can become better. As simple as this may sound, it&rsquo;s extremely hard to implement unless you have a specific strategy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We try to have as many specific touch points as possible with our students while still being realistic. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be great to have an in-depth, specific, one-on-one progress check with every student in every class? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing&rsquo;s for sure. It would not be realistic.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The other extreme would be to never talk to any students about their progress. Clearly, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In our schools, we load up on touch points early in the student&rsquo;s journey, so that we can help them establish the habit of training. After that, we do our best to have a detailed one-on-one discussion with each student a couple of times a year at the minimum.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Remember, it&rsquo;s way better to talk to everyone at least twice a year than it is to talk to some people 10 times a year. Developing a system allows you to do just that.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="5">
<li><strong> Every day, we look for opportunities to recruit new members.</strong> One of the things that makes this time in our industry different than years past is how and when we market our business. I believe that it is still a great time to be in the industry. As a matter of fact, we had our best year ever in 2018.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With that said, it seems that we work a lot harder now than we ever did before to generate new members. No worries; it just means that we have to give mindful consideration to it every day.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Even with as much success as we have had generating online leads, I believe that old-school, tried-and-true methods of recruiting will always be important as well.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I recently talked to a gentleman who told me that virtually 100% of his students came from Facebook. It&rsquo;s great that he&rsquo;s having success in that arena. But I told him to think about how much better he could be doing if he practiced the old-school methods as well.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>These old-school methods might consist of some or all of the following:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Birthday parties</li>
<li>Buddy Days</li>
<li>Parents&rsquo; Night Out</li>
<li>Belt promotions</li>
<li>self-defense clinics</li>
<li>referral events, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>You don&rsquo;t have to practice all of them, but (in my opinion) you should be practicing many of them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Of course, there are lots of other things that go into running a successful martial arts school, but you can make it too complicated. The Five Mindsets are a great place to focus on first. If they are already second nature within your organization, I&rsquo;d encourage you to review them on a regular basis, so they don&rsquo;t slip away.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>You can contact Master Dave Kovar at dave.kovar@kovars.com.</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/the-5-mindsets-of-martial-arts-school-success-part-2
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/the-5-mindsets-of-martial-arts-school-success-part-2A Time for Everything<p>This time of year I always think of my late friend, Ron Lyle. If you know boxing, then you know of Ron Lyle. But I don&rsquo;t know him from that perspective. I know him from a different perspective that perhaps no one else would have even paid attention to.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>World Heavyweight Champion contender Ron Lyle just happened to grow up in the neighborhood where I teach my inner- city martial arts program in Denver, CO. I always wondered who the older black guy was in the back of the room watching me teach classes. He didn&rsquo;t say anything. He just watched and would emulate my moves as if he was trying to remember them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When I found out that it was Ron Lyle, who was also teaching the boxing program downstairs, it became a running joke of &ldquo;who could beat up who&rdquo; if we both got in the ring. He always smiled and said I would win.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Over the next few years, we would spend many hours during the center&rsquo;s down time talking about a lot of life, past and present. He told me how he was sent to prison for taking a another young man&rsquo;s life when he was 19. He told me about getting stabbed in the prison yard and almost dying twice.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ron said the lowest time in his life was recovering from surgery in solitary confinement. But that was also the time his entire life would change. It was a dream he had while in solitary confinement that prompted him to start boxing.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ten years later, he would be released from prison. But because he was considered a late bloomer who started his boxing career in prison, only one person took notice of him.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That person happened to be Angelo Dundee,&rdquo; Ron told me with a smile.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Being picked by Muhammad Ali&rsquo;s trainer to be Ali&rsquo;s sparring partner was certainly a lucky break for him.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But maybe not that lucky for Muhammad Ali,&rdquo; Ron said, laughing.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ron Lyle&rsquo;s life always seemed to be about timing. Many times, it seemed like &ldquo;bad timing&rdquo; for him. But many more times he happened to be at the right place at the right time, even if it was being in prison!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As the center&rsquo;s program director, I would often bring in those who needed the experience of working with the community. One such individual was a retired female cop. She wanted to get in enough hours to get her chaplaincy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Is that Ron Lyle?&rdquo; she asked me one day.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, would you like to meet him?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>She shook her head and started laughing. &ldquo;You know, I was one of his arresting officers when I was a rookie.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Great! I&rsquo;ll get him!&rdquo; I responded.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I couldn&rsquo;t wait to see this!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As this older female cop started explaining to Ron who she was, he put his arm around her and hugged her.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;You know, I remember you!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Thank you, because, if you weren&rsquo;t who you were then, I wouldn&rsquo;t be who I am today.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I often say that time is a funny thing. It was entertaining, over the years, for me to see so many law enforcement officers now wanting Ron&rsquo;s autograph and a picture with him. He had no hard feelings whatsoever.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Boxing champion Ron Lyle died suddenly right after Thanksgiving in 2011. The scar tissue from the prison-yard stabbing that almost killed him years ago began to obstruct his digestive system, causing sepsis. Forty years earlier, time was on Ron&rsquo;s side. Sadly, the champ&rsquo;s time had run out.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There truly is a time for everything. Ron Lyle is a testimony that your lowest time could really be the starting point of the break you always needed. The people you were running from could one day be the people you put your arm around and thank.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rest in peace my, friend. There were &mdash; and still are &mdash; a lot of great boxers in the world. But there will only be one Ron Lyle, the champion boxer who knew about time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>You can contact Master Karen Eden at renedenherdman@gmail.com.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/a-time-for-everything
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/a-time-for-everything10 Things Your Attorney Doesn’t Want You To Know, Part 1<p>Attorneys are vital to the success and continued viability of your school. However, there is always an inherent and unavoidable conflict between you and your attorney. Any time people are paid for a service or you pay for a service, each party will act to protect his/her best financial interests.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s my list of 10 things (some related to fees and some not) that your attorney would rather you not know (or ignore):</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li><strong> All Fees Are Negotiable</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>I don&rsquo;t charge the same hourly rate for all types of cases. Litigation is not charged at the same level as would assistance in filing administrative documents.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s be honest. All things an attorney does don&rsquo;t require similar sets of skills. Similarly, it never hurts to attempt to negotiate a reduced rate. If you&rsquo;re a new client or even one that has a longstanding relationship, asking for a discount, or even a flat fee, is a possibility. As my father always said, &ldquo;The answer to an unasked question is always no.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Finally, if you have chosen a true professional for your attorney, his/her work product won&rsquo;t suffer because you negotiated a reduced fee. Never let that be a concern. If it is, you have chosen the wrong attorney.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><strong> In a Contingency Situation, Pay Fees from the Net Recovery</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Some cases, but mostly personal injury cases, are taken on a contingency basis. That means you don&rsquo;t pay an hourly fee, but the attorney receives a percentage of the recovery. Typically, the attorney agrees to front the &ldquo;costs of litigation&rdquo; (filing fees, expert fees, etc.), but will recover these costs from the settlement proceeds.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In my opinion, these costs should never be deducted from the gross recovery but instead from the net recovery.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By way of example, let&rsquo;s say that you settle a case (or you receive a collectible judgment) in the sum of $100,000. But costs in the sum of $20,000 were incurred. Further, assume that you&rsquo;ll owe your attorney 33% of the recovery.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>If the costs are deducted from the gross recovery (i.e., after the attorney is paid her 33%), this can cost you a great deal of money. The arithmetic is clear.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>If the $20,000 is taken from the $100,000 before the attorney receives her percentage, you will receive $53,600 while your attorney will collect $26,400. If the costs are deducted after the attorney&rsquo;s distribution, the attorney receives $33,333 while your recovery is reduced to $46,667.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In my simple example, allowing the costs to be reduced after the attorney&rsquo;s percentage is calculated resulted in you receiving $7,000 less. That&rsquo;s a significant loss to you.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lawyers won&rsquo;t explain this math trick to you because it will cost them money. So, negotiate this in the beginning.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong> Always Review Your Bill</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Attorneys hate preparing hourly billings. Typically, attorneys delay keeping contemporaneous time sheets, and only when faced with the alternative of a cash-flow issue do they perform billings. Reconstructing time by reviewing a file or by memory is never as accurate as keeping time as it accrues. If something in your invoice doesn&rsquo;t look (or feel) right, say something. Waiting or delaying is not a viable plan.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Attorneys make mistakes. Billing errors can occur. Costs can be billed incorrectly. Ask for detailed billings divided into six-minute increments. You are owed this consideration. So, demand it!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong> We Are Very Possessive of Our Clients</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>No attorney has expertise in all areas. A good attorney with your best interests at heart wants what is best for you, even if it requires that another attorney be brought in. Don&rsquo;t hesitate to ask for a referral to another attorney that handles a matter your regular attorney does not.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="5">
<li><strong> Experience Usually Always Trumps Pedigree</strong></li>
</ol>
<p>New lawyers and new drivers are dangerous. Each, unless under the wing of a mentor, can make mistakes individuals with more experience would not make. A failure in this regard could have monumental negative consequences.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A physician that just graduates on a Friday cannot perform open-heart surgery on Monday. But, a lawyer that passes a bar exam can defend a client in any type of case, even a murder trial, before the ink is dry on his/her diploma.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Where your lawyer went to school may get him or her their first job, but it won&rsquo;t make a bit of difference to a judge or jury. I want the experienced attorney that attended a state law school representing my interests over the highly ranked, recent Ivy-League graduate, every time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Topics 6 through 10 next month.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Attorney Phil Goss, Jr. welcomes any email comments or questions at PhilGosslaw@gmail.com and will attempt to respond personally, time permitting.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/10-things-your-attorney-doesn-t-want-you-to-know-part-1
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/10-things-your-attorney-doesn-t-want-you-to-know-part-1“L” is for Levity<p>This month, let&rsquo;s discuss levity and its role in leadership and teams.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Levity&rdquo; is &ldquo;cheerfulness&rdquo; or &ldquo;enjoyment.&rdquo; As we work and try to manage successful businesses, it&rsquo;s easy to lose sight of just having fun. Honestly, there are some days when we fight just to get out of bed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, there are always moments when some joyfulness and laughter can be found. Even when things seem hard or crazy, you have to be intentional in finding levity. Allow me to share a wild but true story.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In my previous column series, &ldquo;Pop&rsquo;s Pearls of Wisdom,&rdquo; I stated that my parents owned liquor stores and then motels. One day, my dad and I were working the front desk at the motel when he received a call from a customer. The client complained that there was a rat in his room.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We were quite thorough about pest control and cleanliness. My dad was tired from several days of rowdy customers and the previous night&rsquo;s incident that involved the police. But he decided to not fight with the customer and employed a touch of interpersonal jiu-jitsu.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>At first, he asked the gentleman if he was sure that there really was a rat in the room. Given the incidences of drug use in that neighborhood, this was a very valid question to ask. The customer emphatically stated, &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Dad, being savvy and cautious just in case a rodent had slipped by us, asked the man where in the room did he see the rat. The customer answered, &ldquo;Under the bed,&rdquo; and that he could hear the rat scratching and trying to get out.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our beds were basically a mattress and a box spring that was set into a wooden base. Unless a rat had been put under there, the rodent would have to burrow through thick wood and the walls to actually be under the bed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hearing this, my dad assured the gentleman that he was mistaken. The man argued back, saying that there was a rat under the bed and, worse, it &ldquo;had a machine gun and wanted to kill him!&rdquo; Yes, you read that correctly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>My dad then put the man on hold, laughed loudly for a few moments and then reassured the customer that we exterminate regularly. And that there was not a rat underneath the bed with a machine gun.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The man wearily believed my dad, but asked once more if my dad was sure that there wasn&rsquo;t a machine-gun-toting homicidal rodent underneath the bed with murderous intent.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>My dad, in classic form, told the man, &ldquo;Look man, I can promise that there isn&rsquo;t a rat underneath your bed with a machine gun. But if there was one in your room with a machine gun, I&rsquo;m not about to mess with him!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Trust me, my family went through an immense amount of craziness and chaos with people over the years. Despite fights, drug deals, drug use, violence and tons of police activity, we somehow found levity and moments to laugh and be grateful. If we can find levity when, say, the vice squad is conducting a raid, I&rsquo;m sure you can, too. Your world is presumably far more civilized.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s consider the following tips for being more intentional to find the lighthearted moments in our lives.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li><strong> Bring joy to someone else.</strong> Having something nice done for you is great; doing something nice for someone else is better. Be that person who fosters acknowledgement and appreciation. Doing for others can do wonders for you.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><strong> Remove yourself from the situation.</strong> Being close to your source of distress is tough. Creating distance from it provides relief from the stress it causes and adds perspective. It also helps team members find some relief.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong> Neither dwell nor obsess over anything.</strong> Things can be bad, but obsessing makes matters worse! You can&rsquo;t move forward if you keep looking back! No one wants past mistakes or problems to keep arising, so resolve matters and agree to move forward.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong> Be like a plant or a flower.</strong> Appreciate the fact that both light and dark are necessary for growth, but keep seeking and bending toward the light. Leaders and team members that are negative neither grow nor flourish for long.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Running a business and managing people is serious work, but everyone doesn&rsquo;t have to be serious all of the time. I hope you and your team can find moments to enjoy the journey and keep earning your stripes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Dr. Nguyen &ldquo;Tom&rdquo; Griggs is a professional consultant/ speaker in the areas of Teams, Leadership and Conflict and can be reached at tom@ntgriggs.com.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/l-is-for-levity
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/l-is-for-levityPatrick Wrenn: Discovering He Could Not Quit Karate<p>In 1974, Patrick Wrenn was invited by Elvis Presley, Elvis sidekick/bodyguard Red West and Bill &ldquo;Superfoot&rdquo; Wallace to help establish what has since been called &ldquo;the greatest martial arts school of all time.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s the 4,300-square-foot, Memphis-based Tennessee Karate Institute (TKI). The original TKI only lasted four years, but, 39 years later, Wrenn has reopened it at its original location as part museum/part school.</p>
<p>Recipient of the Martial Arts Lifetime Achievement Award and Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior, the indomitable 10th-dan Wrenn has continued over the years to teach his Combative Arts despite continuous injuries and ill-health.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Herb Borkland:</strong> Where did you grow up, and what did yourdad do?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Patrick Wrenn:</strong> I was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. My father was a self-made, multimillionaire real-estate developer.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>After college, I went into business for myself importing birds of prey, reptiles and saltwater fish for zoos. I&rsquo;ve been an animal-keeper all my life. One day, I was sitting in a Knoxville Zoo cage with my 300-pound jaguar, a guy came up and said, &ldquo;You need to learn karate.&rdquo; I told him to get out, you don&rsquo;t hit the creatures, but he said, &ldquo;What if she tried to scratch you?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I started studying with Mac Dickinson, a tough Joe Lewis-looking lawyer, and went on to train with Al Holcomb, an Allen Steen student from Texas. I did bodyguard work in Vegas for country-music star Charlie Rich. This steers to Elvis</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>HB:</strong> Turning point?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>PW:</strong> Earning my green belt was so hard, I quit. Within two weeks I came back because I just honest-to-God couldn&rsquo;t quit. First thing in my life I couldn&rsquo;t quit at.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In 1974, I broke my back at the Dallas Nationals and all of a sudden became a business partner of Bill Wallace and Elvis. We all put in money and ran the studio [Tennessee Karate Institute] for four years as a corporation. Elvis filmed [the documentary] The New Gladiators there.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>TKI taught no katas. No traditional karate occurred in that room. I learned that super glue closed a face cut cheaper than going to the emergency room. Bill was training to be a kickboxing champ and not playing. Serious stuff. I remember counting [him delivering] 147 kicks to a heavy bag in a two minute round!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Elvis died in 1977. Bill left Memphis soon for his movie roles and worldwide travel, and I hadn&rsquo;t tended properly to my back. So, it went out on me when I was alone in the studio. I vacated the premises literally crawling on my belly. TKI closed in 1978.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thank God, the martial arts saved me. Instead of drinking, I worked out harder and applied our value system to my daily life, to live karate rather than just do karate. I also worked with problem kids by using physical/discipline skills. The program lasted 16 years, and I still hear from some of them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m the only non-football player to belong to the NFL because of my NFL Tackles Drugs Head On program. I broke 5,412 boards in 47 minutes before 26,000 spectators, set a world&rsquo;s record and raised $187,000 for the Ronald McDonald House.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I am a 10th dan &mdash; human, not perfect &mdash; but I&rsquo;m not going to let karate down. Now, TKI is both a museum and a karate school. Busloads of people from other countries come to see where Elvis worked out. We have a wall for Elvis, Wallace, George Foreman, Sly Stone and Isaac Hayes. How can I let that down?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I&rsquo;ve been stabbed, shot, had my jaw rebuilt, suffered broken bones, and beat a staph infection, cancer and alcohol. I&rsquo;m still here, still teaching, and I will fight anything that comes through the door, however they want to go.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Herb Borkland can be reached at herbork@comcast.net.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/patrick-wrenn-discovering-he-could-not-quit-karate
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/patrick-wrenn-discovering-he-could-not-quit-karateThe MAIA Report: Perspective<p>It's almost the New Year, the time for resolutions. Grand expectations. Weight loss. Goal-setting. Making a change for the better and trying to stick with it for the next 365 days.</p>
<p>Then, the first week winds down and the confetti settles. Champagne gets flat. By this time, I can&rsquo;t tell you how many Facebook posts I see saying things, &ldquo;Can we just start this New Year over?&rdquo; Or, &ldquo;I need a re-do.&rdquo; And, of course, the standard: &ldquo;This is the worst year ever!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Since we have such high expectations for the New Year, we get frazzled at the first thing that goes wrong. We tend to associate the first week of the New Year with how the rest of the year will go. We think, &ldquo;Why does everything happen to me?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Having expectations and setting goals is important and you should definitely do it. In fact, if you haven&rsquo;t written out a list of the goals you want to accomplish, stop reading and do it now! We have all heard that you are more likely to work toward a goal and accomplish it if it&rsquo;s written down.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>But this column isn&rsquo;t about goal-setting; I wrote about that last year. This is about changing your perspective. The minute something goes wrong in the New Year we are more disappointed than if something went wrong in May or September. We get used to disappointments by then and can easily adjust.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s why I want you to change your perspective. Maybe things aren&rsquo;t happening to you, they are happening for you. This is a hard one to take in. At least it&rsquo;s difficult for me. Remember when your knees hurt as a kid and your mom said, &ldquo;Those are growing pains!&rdquo; Well, we don&rsquo;t stop growing when we get older. We just grow in other ways.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The growing is tough and painful. We are stretched in ways that hurt (sort of like my yoga class this morning). But the growth is important. When things go wrong, take it as an opportunity to stretch yourself. When we are stretched, we truly discover all that we&rsquo;re capable of.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Every time you are disappointed that something doesn&rsquo;t go your way, you can more easily adjust and bounce back. Don&rsquo;t get discouraged if you don&rsquo;t see a path to your goals yet, or if you&rsquo;re struggling to keep students coming through your door. The difficult times are what makes the easy times seem &hellip; well, easy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>You know this already. But I think we need to be constantly reminded. What doesn&rsquo;t kill you makes you stronger! At one point or another, we will all be in the hills and all be in the valleys. In the valleys, you stretch yourself. You grow. You prepare for the climb. In the hills, you get to bask in the glory of your hard work to get there.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;re struggling with your school, you are not in it alone, even if you feel alone right now. You just need someone to guide you through the valleys. The Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) is here when you need guidance. We have consultants who have been where you are &mdash; in the valleys &mdash; and who climbed out.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>So, this year, I challenge you to tell yourself in the difficult times, &ldquo;This is all happening for me, not to me. I will grow and get stronger for the next time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And each time it will get easier to not think life is out to get you. Life is tough. But so are you.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Melissa Torres is the Martial Arts Industry Association Division Manager and can be reached at mtorres@ masuccess.com.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/the-maia-report-perspective
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/the-maia-report-perspectiveHelp Students See the Path to Black Belt<p>I've been operating a martial arts school full-time for 40 years. I think I may have made every mistake that can be made in this business. The reason I&rsquo;m still in business, I believe, is because I asked for help. I learned quickly that others before me had already found solutions. In this reality-based column, I&rsquo;ll point out key mistakes I made in my business career, which are common errors among school owners, both large and small, throughout our industry. Then I&rsquo;ll share the solutions I applied to overcome them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In our early years in running a dojo as black belt instructors, we came to work, taught classes and tried hard to manage a business that was our sole source of income. As instructors and owners, we made student progress the priority in the school. While that&rsquo;s a respectable and sensible idea, it left out a very important pillar of our growth.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I think, in those early years, we were missing a huge opportunity. We basically never showed our students our own talent!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We have learned, as the years have gone by, that showing our students our own efforts at promotion was a huge part of their attitude toward their own training. If they could see their teachers working on promotion, it made them embrace it more and realize that black belt truly was only the beginning of a journey, not the end.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>About 15 years ago, we started encouraging our black belts to work together for an entire year and to put on a performance of their own in November of each year. We called this group the Class of 2019, or whatever year they were promoting. They did all of their testing together, and the performance at the end of the year was their celebration of rank.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>During this process, we found that the energy level in our school was palpable. We now know that if we want to ratchet up our attendance, we need to show, from the top down, that we also are actively training.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In our annual show in November, all of our black belts perform, not just those testing for their black belts. We have a choreographed, musical, two-hour performance every year. Our adults see the adult black belts practicing for the event. Most of all, for our adults, they see that some of us have been training for 40 years and are still training.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We involve children and teens in the performances as well. We practice what we intend to perform, in portions of their advanced classes. Working as a team on a kata that involves eight people takes practice and builds friendship.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The children and teens benefit from seeing how we work as partners, rather than opponents. We model thoughtful behavior for our younger students. Most children have a favorite teacher, and seeing that teacher prepare for testing is inspiring.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the earlier years, we didn&rsquo;t have 60 black belts performing, as we do now. We included advanced students of varying levels, by having a black belt ask them to perform with him or her. It was easy to get them practicing extra with us, because they saw it as a privilege to be asked.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a newer school trying to start this tradition, I would suggest, as the sole proprietor/owner, that you be willing to perform in front of your students. I would then set a date at least six to 12 months off in the future, and start asking others to join you. The easiest groups to ask to join you are the brown and black belts, by making it part of their promotion process.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We do not do individual performances in this show at all. All performances involve a group of students performing together. We demonstrate kata, sparring, self-defense, judo, jujitsu, weapons and anything else that we are teaching in our program. We sell tickets to the show at $5 each, to pay for the chairs that we rent for the spectators.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some other schools I know rent out a local academic school&rsquo;s gym and sell tickets to pay for the cost of it. However you do it, it will be a gold mine for energy and referrals&mdash; and can be a great marketing campaign if you include it with some anniversary for the business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>Kathy Olevsky can be reached for questions or comments at kathy.olevsky@raleighkarate.com.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/help-students-see-the-path-to-black-belt
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/help-students-see-the-path-to-black-beltPut a Sleek Ninja in Your School<p><em>Fitness icon Eric Fleishman (a.k.a. &ldquo;Eric the Trainer&rdquo;) has earned celebrity status among his pumping-iron peers and Hollywood&rsquo;s elite with his unique training programs. Also a high-ranking black belt, Fleishman has combined his two biggest passions to create &ldquo;Sleek Ninja,&rdquo; a fitness program designed especially for martial artists and school owners.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;By Terry L. Wilson</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>CREATING NEW CLIENTS WITH SLEEK NINJA</strong></p>
<p>After earning black belt status in multiple disciplines, Los Angeles&rsquo; Eric Fleishman (pronounced, fleesh&rsquo;man) saw a way for schools of any style or system to upgrade their fitness program and make a profit in the process.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My martial arts background spans nearly 40 years,&rdquo; says Fleishman. &ldquo;Combine that with my being a Hollywood physique expert, creating Sleek Ninja was a natural fit.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I heard that martial arts dojos across America were starting to feel a financial crunch because of the economy a few years ago, I wanted to find a way to help them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The acclaimed trainer was distressed over the fact that many schools were barely able to keep their doors open. In strip malls across the country, some schools had been forced to permanently close their doors.</p>
<p>Eric the Trainer&rsquo;s solution was to create a program that would put new students in the door. His hope was that although they signed up for a fitness class, they would also morph into the school&rsquo;s martial arts program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I decided the best thing I could do as a physique expert who was also a martial artist at heart, was to create a fitness program specifically that would help dojos transform their students into sleek ninjas,&rdquo; says Fleishman. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I created Sleek Ninja.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman flexed his status as a &ldquo;Trainer to the Stars&rdquo; to acquire a few of his A-list celebrities to help promote the new program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There are quite a few showbiz celebrities and music icons that train with me on my Discovery-network show, Celebrity Sweat,&rdquo; Fleishman explains. &ldquo;By getting them involved in Ninja Sweat, we can offer schools an incredible promotional program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;With the Hollywood promotional machine that we have, we&rsquo;re going to do promotions in the areas where the schools are that feature Sleek Ninja classes. For example, in Omaha, Nebraska, the owner of Champion Martial Arts was one of the first guys to sign up for Sleek Ninja. We&rsquo;re going to promote his school and our program throughout the area.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So, all of the people in Omaha will know that Champion Martial Arts is the one and only place they can achieve a fitness level designed by me, the same guy that trains all the famous celebrities.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The idea is to get people who weren&rsquo;t necessarily interested in taking martial arts into dojos to take my fitness program. Then, hopefully, they&rsquo;d get involved in the school&rsquo;s martial arts classes as well. Either way, it brings extra revenue and promotion to the dojo.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman went on to say that many dojos are closed in the morning and open daily only late in the afternoon. He feels that this is an excellent time to get people in the door for his Sleek Ninja workout.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sleek Ninja is for morning workout classes,&rdquo; says Fleishman. &ldquo;The dojo can use that empty space [and downtime] to make money.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>WHAT IS SLEEK NINJA?</strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;Sleek Ninja is an exercise class that uses body-weight exercises to transform the body from that of a normal person to that of a sleek ninja,&rdquo; explains Fleishman. &ldquo;Anyone can become strong and flexible with lean muscle mass, ready to spring into action, with this program. The science of change for anybody is the right blend of diet, exercise and sleep.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have a whole dietary component that will be taught as part of the class, as will the importance of sleep. Many people don&rsquo;t realize that during sleep is the only time the body can change. All physical transformation occurs exclusively during slumber.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All of these components are part of Sleek Ninja. I couldn&rsquo;t be prouder of the program. We&rsquo;re going to grow. It&rsquo;s going to be exciting and we&rsquo;re happy to kick it off with our friends over at Century.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m one of the experts that Century looks to for advice from a fitness perceptive. Also, being a martial artist, we have so much in common.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But more importantly, Century is supporting our Sleek Ninja efforts by offering an array of products that will support this joint-venture program. It includes targets and mats that will be branded with Sleek Ninja.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Century is a great partner. We&rsquo;re looking to build a relationship with them through education and motivation of martial artists/instructors to help them enlighten the world to the benefits of what we have to offer.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Anyone can become a Sleek Ninja instructor,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;I created a system on how to teach Sleek Ninja that&rsquo;s completely digital. So, martial arts schools sign up at SleekNinja.com or ETTworkout.com to become certified to teach Sleek Ninja classes at their dojos.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>ENTER THE DRAGON</strong></p>
<p>But before Fleishman became the muscle-bound trainer of Hollywood&rsquo;s elite, he had a lot of work ahead of him. One of those stepping-stones to success was his early introduction to martial arts. When he was 10, his father helped his skinny son take what would become his first step toward an amazing career in the world of physical fitness.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My father was a doctor in a small town; he knew that, in our family, we tend to be late bloomers,&rdquo; Fleishman explains. &ldquo;Dad realized that I was going to look like a little kid for many years while my friends were maturing around me. So, at age 10 in 1979, he took me to my first martial arts class to help give me more physical confidence in myself.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My instructor was Mike Cook, who still teaches shotokan karate in Farmington, Maine, to this day. He&rsquo;s been nationally ranked in kumite and forms for many decades.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman studied shotokan until he went to college, where he trained in taekwondo and began sparring in addition to joining Gold&rsquo;s Gym in New Haven, Connecticut.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>GIRLS LIKE GUYS WITH MUSCLES</strong></p>
<p>Fleishman spent five years in New York City working as a personal trainer (ACE and TSI certification). It was here that he pinpointed the science of change through three major components: diet, exercise and sleep. He also noticed that girls like guys with muscles.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I noticed a correlation between how much time I spent in the gym to how often good-looking girls would talk to me. With that motivation, I started spending more time in the gym. Finally, it dawned on me that the gym was one of the last places in society where you can go in as an underdog and emerge a hero. I love that dynamic! So, I decided to spend my life helping embody that concept.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;After college, I moved to New York City,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;I started working as a personal trainer. After five years, a well-known magazine published an article naming me as the &lsquo;number one trainer in Manhattan.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>WELCOME TO L.A.</strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;I sent that article to [pioneering TV-fitness guru] Jack LaLanne</p>
<p>in California and said, &lsquo;This title means nothing to me if I can&rsquo;t learn from the best.&rsquo; He invited me to visit him in Los Angeles. I became is apprentice and learned directly from him. It was the most amazing experience to see how he inspired people the way he did.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We spent a lot of time together. He was on a mission to change the world through exercise and proper nutrition. He had buzz phrases like: &lsquo;If man made it, don&rsquo;t eat it.&rsquo; &lsquo;If it tastes good, spit it out.&rsquo; He was quite a character, but Jack would do or say anything to motivate people to live happy, healthy lives.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Even though he passed away years ago, his mission is still alive in my heart. Every morning, I wake up and try to continue his legacy. He was the biggest professional influence in my life.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman also got heavily into Japanese goju-ryu jujitsu with instructor David Pesko.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That training was profoundly intense,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Even though I&rsquo;d already achieved two black belts in two different styles, I felt as if I really knew nothing. Japanese jujitsu is all encompassing, with a lot of circular movements as opposed to linear striking. When a Japanese</p>
<p>jujitsu guy attacks, you feel like there&rsquo;s a tornado going on in front of you and you don&rsquo;t know where to start to defend yourself.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman became obsessed with goju-ryu jujitsu. The training was so intense, he says, that when he started there were eight students in class. At the end of just one week, five had dropped out!</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was intrigued by the application of science merged into fighting forms that taught the most effective way to use angles and movements,&rdquo; he explains, &ldquo;And, as you master those angles and the flow, you start adding speed. For me, that&rsquo;s where the beautiful art of destruction begins.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This illustrates how tough the class was. I&rsquo;m a personal trainer in top shape, better than one half of one percent of all people in America. And many times after class, I&rsquo;d only be able to drive halfway home before I&rsquo;d get nauseous. It was physically, mentally and spiritually exhausting. But at the same time it was enlightening and I loved it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After obtaining a black belt in jujitsu, Fleishman began training police officers in Los Angeles in arrest-restraint techniques and self-defense.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was very gratifying training Los Angeles police officers and the Sheriff&rsquo;s Department,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was an honor to work with these young cadets who were about to go out into the world to protect us from the bad guys. I do that purely as a volunteer; I wasn&rsquo;t interested in being compensated for my time. I was looking for a way to give back.&rdquo;</p>
<p>According to Fleishman, the fitness world is very academic. People want you to learn from books and get certified by taking tests. But the world of martial arts is almost an apprenticeship. You learn from great instructors; you do practical tests in front of others and they give you feedback.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Because I was a martial artist for 10 years before I ever stepped into a gym, the way I process fitness and the way I wanted to learn from it wasn&rsquo;t available at that time,&rdquo; he says.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have apprenticeships in fitness. There weren&rsquo;t experts giving seminars, or people you could study with on that level in fitness because it was all academic. So, I had to be a trail-blazer and really seek out the best. That was Jack LaLanne, because he was the best that ever was. That&rsquo;s why I sought to learn from him.&rdquo;</p>
<p>To honor his mentor, on Fleishman&rsquo;s 40th birthday he did 40,000 push-ups and all of the money raised was donated to Jack Lalanne&rsquo;s favorite charities.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I want to say to people in small towns everywhere, &lsquo;Hey, I might live in Hollywood, but being healthy is something we can all do together [with Sleek Ninja] and you can do it wherever you call home. Come with me on this journey. It&rsquo;s going to be great. We&rsquo;re just going to use three elements: exercise, diet and sleep.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;By doing this, we&rsquo;re going to create a meaningful, fantastic, healthy life together. That&rsquo;s what the mission is and my goal is to follow in the steps of Jack LaLanne to continue with his legacy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>CELEBRITY SWEAT</strong></p>
<p>Following in the footsteps of his idol, Fleishman has also become a TV personality, hosting Celebrity Sweat.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Most people today don&rsquo;t realize that Jack hosted a TV show for 30 years that really put him on the map,&rdquo; says Fleishman. &ldquo;So, when I was learning from him, he told me that television is a megaphone to broadcast the mission you and I are on. He said, &lsquo;You need to host a show.&rsquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I told him okay. Six months later, I got a call from a company that was looking for a TV host for a show called Celebrity Sweat.</p>
<p>&ldquo;So, for the past five years, I&rsquo;ve been hosting that show on the Discovery Network. It&rsquo;s a behind-the-scenes look at the active healthy lifestyle of athletes and celebrities, with some music icons tossed in as well. We&rsquo;ve shot shows all around America and around the world.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Fleishman&rsquo;s cable-network series a fun-filled romp that takes Eric the Trainer and his celeb pals all around the world doing all kinds of crazy antics.</p>
<p>One minute they may be learning a cheerleading routine with the Dallas Mavs&rsquo; squad, the next minute they could be working out with Shaolin monks in China! The best part of the show is that you never know who Fleishman is going to be with or where he&rsquo;s likely to be located.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We could be backstage at a big rock concert and do some stretches,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Or maybe we&rsquo;ll show up on a movie set and find out what the stars do between takes. It&rsquo;s very much a free-form, unscripted show that lets everyone just be themselves having fun.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve worked with everyone from country music stars like Reba Macintyre and Florida Georgia Line, to rock stars like Def Leppard and Nickelback. They&rsquo;ll talk to us about the things that allow them to be healthy, happy and successful in their position of being some of the most watched people in the world.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Most of these people I&rsquo;m meeting for the first time on the show. We have a great time and many of them will become my clients. I have my own gym in Burbank near all the movie studios and we train some of the biggest names in Hollywood.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To learn more about the Sleek Ninja program, contact Eric Fleishman/Eric the Trainer at (323) 428-6100 or by email at <a href="mailto:Mainemonster@gmail.com">Mainemonster@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p>San Diego&rsquo;s Terry Wilson is a multiple Emmy Award-winning TV host/writer and lifelong martial artist. He may be reached at tleewilson@gmail.com.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000https://www.maiahub.com/blog/put-a-sleek-ninja-in-your-school
https://www.maiahub.com/blog/put-a-sleek-ninja-in-your-school